Lot Essay
The Maker
The design and execution of this microscope all point to Hugh Powell (1799-1883) as the maker. In fact, it is virtually identical to a microscope displayed in the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford (C93) signed: H. POWELL 24, Clarendon Str, Somers Town, London. Comparison with two other closely similar instruments, signed Hugh Powell, London, which are in the collection of the Royal Microscopical Society, Oxford (nos 113, 114) shows that all come from the same workshop. The present instrument and that at the Museum both have the same square edged feet that suggest they are earlier than the RMS microscopes. The first publication of Hugh Powell was in 1836, when he described a fine adjustment in the form of a micrometer screw acting on the stage - as here.
The mechanical stage is to the pattern of Edmund Turrell, where the X and Y motions are on concentric shafts. Turrell was an engraver at 46 Clarendon Street, Somers Town, while Powell was at 24 Clarendon Street from 1832 to 1846. The stage was published in the Transactions of the Society of Arts in 1833, Turrell having been awarded the Silver Isis Medal of the Society in 1832.
The microscope represents the transition period from the Regency models, with stands and tubes poorly mounted, and therefore subject to vibration. After they key publication in 1830 of J.J. Lister, the spherical abberation could be eliminated by the construction of a lens system for the objectives. By about 1837 the three leading London makers, Powell, Ross and Smith, were producing corrected objectives of considerable magnification, and for serious use the stand had to be redesigned. This occured gradually, as microscopy moved from natural philosophy to scientific functions. By 1840 all three makers had achieved much more stable stands.
The design and execution of this microscope all point to Hugh Powell (1799-1883) as the maker. In fact, it is virtually identical to a microscope displayed in the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford (C93) signed: H. POWELL 24, Clarendon Str, Somers Town, London. Comparison with two other closely similar instruments, signed Hugh Powell, London, which are in the collection of the Royal Microscopical Society, Oxford (nos 113, 114) shows that all come from the same workshop. The present instrument and that at the Museum both have the same square edged feet that suggest they are earlier than the RMS microscopes. The first publication of Hugh Powell was in 1836, when he described a fine adjustment in the form of a micrometer screw acting on the stage - as here.
The mechanical stage is to the pattern of Edmund Turrell, where the X and Y motions are on concentric shafts. Turrell was an engraver at 46 Clarendon Street, Somers Town, while Powell was at 24 Clarendon Street from 1832 to 1846. The stage was published in the Transactions of the Society of Arts in 1833, Turrell having been awarded the Silver Isis Medal of the Society in 1832.
The microscope represents the transition period from the Regency models, with stands and tubes poorly mounted, and therefore subject to vibration. After they key publication in 1830 of J.J. Lister, the spherical abberation could be eliminated by the construction of a lens system for the objectives. By about 1837 the three leading London makers, Powell, Ross and Smith, were producing corrected objectives of considerable magnification, and for serious use the stand had to be redesigned. This occured gradually, as microscopy moved from natural philosophy to scientific functions. By 1840 all three makers had achieved much more stable stands.